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Jackson's command, after having rested on the morning of the 31st, in the afternoon of that day was put in motion for the purpose of turning the enemy's position at
Centreville.
Crossing
Bull Run at and near Sudley's Ford, it moved to the left over a country road,
Jackson's division in front followed by
Ewell's and
Hill's bringing up the rear, until the
Little River Turnpike was reached, when we turned towards Fairfax CourtHouse and bivouacked late at night.
Early on the morning of September the 1st, the march was resumed, and continued until we reached the farm of
Chantilly in the afternoon.
The enemy was found in position, covering the retreat of his army, near
Ox Hill, not far from
Chantilly, and a short distance beyond which the
Little River Pike, and the pike from
Centreville to Fairfax Court-House, intersect.
General Jackson at once put his troops in position on the ridge on the east of the
Little River Pike, with his own division on the left,
Hill's on the right and
Ewell's in the centre;
Hays' and
Trimble's brigades only of
Ewell's division being on the front line,
Lawton's and mine being formed in the woods in their rear.
As we moved into position the enemy opened a heavy artillery fire on us, and soon the action commenced with some of
Hill's brigades on the right, extending to
Trimble's and
Hays' brigades.
During this action a severe thunder storm raged, and while it was progressing,
General Starke, then in command of
Jackson's division, represented to me that a heavy force was threatening his left, between which and the pike there was a considerable interval, and requested me to cover it with my brigade to protect him from the apprehended danger.
After examining the position I reluctantly consented
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to yield to
General Starke's entreaty, without awaiting orders, as
Hays' brigade was in my front and he represented his situation as critical, and I proceeded to move my brigade by the left flank to the point designated by him. I had put myself on the leading flank, and while moving I heard a considerable musketry fire, but as the woods were very thick and it continued to rain I could see only a short distance, and took it for granted that the firing proceeded from the troops in front of where I had been.
On reaching the position
General Starke desired me to occupy, which was but a short distance from the place I had moved from, as his left was drawn back in a circle towards the pike, I discovered that the 13th, 25th and 31st Virginia Regiments which were on my right had not followed the rest of the brigade.
I immediately sent my aide,
Lieutenant Early, back to see what had become of the missing regiments, and he found them engaged with a body of the enemy in their front.
On ascertaining this fact, I moved back at once and found that my regiment had repulsed the force opposed to them and inflicted considerable loss on it.
Hays' brigade under
Colonel Strong had fallen back in considerable confusion about the time I commenced my movement, and passed through the three regiments on my right, followed by a considerable force of the enemy.
The
commanding officers had very properly detained those regiments, as the affair was entirely concealed from my view, and they had received the enemy's onset with great coolness, driving him back out of the woods.
Colonel Strong had attempted to change front when the enemy were advancing on him, and, being entirely inexperienced in the management of a brigade, he had got it into such confusion that it was compelled to retire.
The 8th Louisiana Regiment, under
Major Lewis, had been halted and formed into line immediately in rear of my regiments, and the remaining regiments were soon rallied and brought back by their respective commanders.
After quite a severe action, in which the enemy lost two
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general officers,
Kearney and
Stevens, he was repulsed at all points, and continued his retreat during the night.
After the close of the action,
Jackson's division was withdrawn from the left to the rear, and
Ewell's division covered the point previously covered by
General Starke, and
Hays' and
Trimble's brigades, and the men lay on their arms during the night.
While
Trimble's brigade was engaged, the gallant old
Captain Brown, of the 12th Georgia Regiment, in command of the brigade, was killed, and
Colonel James A. Walker of the 13th Virginia Regiment was subsequently assigned to the command of the brigade, as it had no field officer present.
On the morning of the 2nd it was discovered that the enemy had retired from our front, and during that day
Pope made good his escape into the fortifications around
Washington.
He had now seen the “rebels” in various aspects and found that his lines of retreat would not take care of themselves; and very soon he was shipped and sent to the northwest to look after the Indians in that quarter.
This affair at
Ox Hill closed the series of engagements with the enemy under
Pope, and it was again the old story of the “rebels in overwhelming numbers,” opposed to a small army of “Union soldiers.”
According to
Pope's account, his army was wearied out and broken down by the fatigues of the campaign on the
Rappahannock, and the incessant marching and manceuvring to confront
Lee's army, and was short of rations and ammunition.
It does not seem to have occurred to him that the soldiers of the army which thus wearied his own were at all susceptible of fatigue or hunger, or that when his own rations were short, their chances of supplying themselves were slim.
Pope's army had at the time of the battles of the 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th of August, been reinforced by
Burnside's corps under
Reno, one brigade of
Sturgis' division from
Alexandria, and the following troops from
McClellan's army:
Heintzelman's corps,
Porter's corps, and the division of
Pennsylvania reserves commanded
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by
Reynolds.
At the time of the affair at
Ox Hill he had been further reinforced by
Franklin's and
Sumner's corps of
McClellan's army, leaving but one corps of that army (
Keyes') which had not reached him. His consolidated report of the 31st of July showed a strength of 46,858 before he was joined by any of those reinforcements and in the letter of
Halleck to
McClellan, dated the 6th of August,
Pope's army is stated to be about 40,000.
In a telegram from
Halleck to
McClellan, dated the 12th of August,
Burnside's force is stated to be nearly 13,000.
General Lee's army at the time of these battles near
Manassas consisted of
Jackson's wing of the army in which there were three divisions of infantry containing fourteen brigades,
Longstreet's wing in which there were four divisions of infantry containing fifteen brigades, and two brigades of cavalry under
Stuart.
There was about one battery of artillery of four guns for each brigade attached to the divisions, and there was a reserve force of artillery which may have numbered some eight or ten batteries, but perhaps not so many.
Longstreet's command consisted of his own division, seven brigades;
Hood's division, two brigades;
Jones' division, three brigades; and
Anderson's division, three brigades.
The whole of those brigades, as well as the force of
Jackson, had been in the battles around
Richmond, except
Evans' brigade-attached to
Longstreet's division,--and
Drayton's brigade, attached to
Jones' division.
Those two brigades had probably been brought from the
South since those battles, or they may have been organized out of regiments attached to other brigades at that time; but I think they were brought from
North and
South Carolina, and if such was the fact, they were the only reinforcements which I ever heard of reaching
General Lee after the battles around
Richmond or before or during the campaign against
Pope or the campaign in
Maryland.
D. H. Hill's division of five brigades;
McLaw's division of four brigades, composed
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of his own and
Magruder's consolidated; and the force of
Holmes and Wise-all of which had constituted part of the army at
Richmond during the battles,--had been left for the protection of that city until the whole of
McClellan's force moved from
James River.
When that event was fully ascertained,
Hill's and
McLaw's division and two of
Holmes' brigades, under
Walker, had been ordered to move North, but
Hill and
McLaws got up on the 2nd, the day after the affair at
Ox Hill, and
Walker later, so that
Pope had only to confront the 29 brigades before mentioned.
My brigade was fully an average one, and my effective force did not exceed 1,500.
Some idea therefore may be formed of the force with which
General Lee fought the
second battle of Manassas; I don't think it could have exceeded 50,000 effective men in all, including artillery and cavalry, and it was probably considerably under that number.
The loss in
Ewell's division, beginning with the artillery fighting on the
Rappahannock and ending, with the affair at
Ox Hill, was in killed 366, wounded 1,169, and missing 32, the loss in my own brigade being 27 killed and 181 wounded.
The main battle, which occurred on the 29th and 30th of August, has been called the
second battle of Manassas, but I think the little village or hamlet of
Groveton is entitled to the honor of giving its name to that great battle, as the fighting began there on the 28th, and was all around it on the 29th and 30th.
The first battle near the same spot, on ground which was again fought over, had been properly named, as
Manassas Junction was then the headquarters and central position of our army, and was the objective point of the enemy during the battle.
Such was not the case with either army at the last battle, and the
Junction, several miles off, had no more relation to the battle than
Bristow,
Gainesville or
Centreville.